I think I heard him say, 'my gardener', several times.
I seemed to pay the deepest attention to him, but I was wandering in a garden of Eden all the while, with Dora.
My apprehensions of being disparaged to the object of my engrossing affection were revived when we went into the drawing-room, by the grim and distant aspect of Miss Murdstone.

But I was relieved of them in an unexpected manner.
'David Copperfield,' said Miss Murdstone, beckoning me aside into a window.

'A word.' I confronted Miss Murdstone alone.
'David Copperfield,' said Miss Murdstone, 'I need not enlarge upon family circumstances.

They are not a tempting subject.' 'Far from it, ma'am,' I returned.
'Far from it,' assented Miss Murdstone.

'I do not wish to revive the memory of past differences, or of past outrages.